Menstruation

It may be the most famous T-shirt you never saw. We can't even show it to you here. But you can see it here . It's called “period power,” and its image is a colored line drawing illustrating a woman's labial area during menstruation. The shirt became a pop culture trope after American Apparel put it up for sale on its website, where it can't be found now - “sold out” is the likelier answer than “taken down.” It's an image that would have shocked a 1960s' girls-only school health class, where they favored dainty euphemisms and vague drawings.

It may be the most famous T-shirt you never saw. We can't even show it to you here. But you can see it here . It's called “period power,” and its image is a colored line drawing illustrating a woman's labial area during menstruation. The shirt became a pop culture trope after American Apparel put it up for sale on its website, where it can't be found now - “sold out” is the likelier answer than “taken down.” It's an image that would have shocked a 1960s' girls-only school health class, where they favored dainty euphemisms and vague drawings.

Women who have outwardly normal menstrual periods may lose bone rapidly if they do not ovulate during every monthly cycle, a study concludes. Lack of menstruation, such as occurs in women who exercise strenuously or do not eat enough, has long been associated with weakened bones. But until now, experts assumed that women who menstruated regularly also produced hormones that kept their bones healthy.

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved the first birth control pill designed to eliminate a woman's monthly period. The new pill, called Lybrel, uses a combination of low-dose synthetic hormones used in other oral contraceptives now on the market. But all of the 28 pills that come in a monthly pack will contain active ingredients, forgoing the placebo tablets that normally allow menstruation to begin.

He was a rich 19th century Don Juan. She was the last woman he wronged. She killed him with a single shot through the eye, delivered in broad daylight alongside a busy road in downtown Los Angeles. But what really convulsed respectable residents of the community was what followed: a trial in which her defense attorneys presented 12 male jurors with forensic evidence and expert scientific testimony that their client should be acquitted by reason of "menstrual madness."

Endometriosis affects about 15% of women of reproductive age. Women with this condition experience chronic pelvic pain, and many experience years of frustration in a search for a diagnosis. But advancements in surgical techniques and new studies have given doctors additional methods of diagnosis and treatment. Donna, 30, went through 15 years of chronic pain and a series of doctors before her condition was diagnosed.

Premenstrual syndrome has numerous treatments even though doctors still don't know its exact cause. But the good news for women who suffer from PMS is that experts say a regular program of exercise can relieve many of its physical and emotional symptoms. Normal premenstrual symptoms, called "molimina," can include moodiness, increased appetite, bloating and breast tenderness. While PMS has similar symptoms, what sets it apart is the severity of those symptoms.

The strongest scientific evidence to date that the level of sex hormones in the bloodstreams of women can affect their thought processes, reasoning ability and muscular coordination was reported at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience here Wednesday.

Women suffering from breast cancer live longer if surgery is performed in the second half of the menstrual cycle, British researchers reported last week in The Lancet. "Changing the time of surgery, if our results are true, would save 600 lives a year in Britain and 2,400 lives a year in the United States," said Dr. Ian Fentiman, deputy director of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund's Breast Unit at Guy's Hospital in London.

Everybody's got it, almost everybody experiences it, but there's not much agreement in San Diego County on how to teach it to our children. Sex. How do public schools teach a subject that is steeped in personal, parental and religious values, but which most people believe, according to public opinion polls, should be taught in the classroom? When it comes to math, there's little discrepancy among school districts about what skills to teach at what levels.

For young women with a world of choices, even the menstrual period is optional. Thanks to birth control pills and other hormonal contraceptives, a growing number of women are taking the path chosen by 22-year-old Stephanie Sardinha. She hasn't had a period since she was 17. "It's really one of the best things I've ever done," she says. A college student and retail worker in Lisbon Falls, Maine, Sardinha uses Nuvaring, a vaginal contraceptive ring.

For years, gynecologists have been quietly telling their patients who take birth control pills that they can avoid menstruating while on their honeymoon or on vacation simply by skipping the seven placebo pills and starting right in on the next packet. Now, however, some women are going far beyond this onetime, "special occasion" skipping of a period and opting to have just three or four periods a year. Still others are stopping menstruation altogether.

The girls' empowerment movement is one of the most positive public health trends in the country these days, and the multitude of health books for girls is proof. It's possible to find a good book for a girl on almost any aspect of physical or psychological health. Some of the latest offerings include two new books from Pleasant Co., which has set the standard for girls' health with its American Girl magazine and library of books.

He was a rich 19th century Don Juan. She was the last woman he wronged. She killed him with a single shot through the eye, delivered in broad daylight alongside a busy road in downtown Los Angeles. But what really convulsed respectable residents of the community was what followed: a trial in which her defense attorneys presented 12 male jurors with forensic evidence and expert scientific testimony that their client should be acquitted by reason of "menstrual madness."

Karen Houppert opens "The Curse" with the debatable observation that menstrual "blood is kinda like snot." She then immediately complains about "the dearth of research attention--and dollars--devoted to" the "topic" of menstruation. Thus she establishes a contradiction that undermines "The Curse." If menstrual blood is indeed a minor secretion "like snot," why devote a book to it?

Endometriosis affects about 15% of women of reproductive age. Women with this condition experience chronic pelvic pain, and many experience years of frustration in a search for a diagnosis. But advancements in surgical techniques and new studies have given doctors additional methods of diagnosis and treatment. Donna, 30, went through 15 years of chronic pain and a series of doctors before her condition was diagnosed.

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved the first birth control pill designed to eliminate a woman's monthly period. The new pill, called Lybrel, uses a combination of low-dose synthetic hormones used in other oral contraceptives now on the market. But all of the 28 pills that come in a monthly pack will contain active ingredients, forgoing the placebo tablets that normally allow menstruation to begin.

Karen Houppert opens "The Curse" with the debatable observation that menstrual "blood is kinda like snot." She then immediately complains about "the dearth of research attention--and dollars--devoted to" the "topic" of menstruation. Thus she establishes a contradiction that undermines "The Curse." If menstrual blood is indeed a minor secretion "like snot," why devote a book to it?

Women suffering from breast cancer live longer if surgery is performed in the second half of the menstrual cycle, British researchers reported last week in The Lancet. "Changing the time of surgery, if our results are true, would save 600 lives a year in Britain and 2,400 lives a year in the United States," said Dr. Ian Fentiman, deputy director of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund's Breast Unit at Guy's Hospital in London.

Women who have outwardly normal menstrual periods may lose bone rapidly if they do not ovulate during every monthly cycle, a study concludes. Lack of menstruation, such as occurs in women who exercise strenuously or do not eat enough, has long been associated with weakened bones. But until now, experts assumed that women who menstruated regularly also produced hormones that kept their bones healthy.